Well, this is not great news: Disney and Marvel's "Ant-Man," easily one of the more anticipated upcoming comic book-related properties, has lost it's visionary director. Disney announced today that Edgar Wright, whose last film was the brilliant sci-fi comedy "The World's End," has exited the project "due to differences in their vision of the film." Sigh.

Keep in mind that Wright co-wrote the screenplay (with his "Adventures of Tintin" collaborator Joe Cornish) and hand picked the especially awesome cast, which includes Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas as different versions of the titular character, a scientist who can shrink down to the size of an ant (and communicate with them), as well as Evangeline Lily, Corey Stoll, Patrick Wilson and Matt Gerald in unspecified roles.

If anyone was enthusiastic about "Ant-Man," it was because of Wright's involvement. The last time he adapted a comic book, it was for 2010's "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," a movie that was wildly ahead of its time and remains a cult favorite. There was no reason to think that "Ant-Man" wouldn't be just as groundbreaking, especially to anyone who saw the test footage Wright had worked on as a proof of concept for his "ant-fu" fighting style. This movie was going to be so cool.

What makes this so strange, too, is that when we spoke to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige back around the time of the release of "Thor: The Dark World," he sounded deeply committed to Wright's vision of "Ant-Man," saying, "because we've been working with him longer than any other filmmaker since it's been almost eight years since our initial meeting with him. And I have no doubt it'll be really great."

Well, it would have been really great. Disney and Marvel are committed to the movie's release date of July 17, 2015. The new announcement remarks that, "A new director will be announced shortly." Sigh.